'Californication' clarification: award-winning Showtime series much more than a skin spectacle Evan Handler (Charlie Runkle) talks season six (note - some small spoilers)

In some circles, misconceptions run rampant when it comes to the popular Showtime television series "Californication." Before even watching the gripping drama some call it a show about a sex addict or they say it exists as a ploy to use skin to increase viewership. True, "Californication" should be viewed by mature audiences, but like they always say -- and here it's true -- the artistic program shouldn't be judged by its cover.

"(Starring David Duchovny as Hank Moody, 'Californication' is) about a writer on the skids -- with a substance-abuse problem for sure -- who pines for a relationship that he ruined and is trying to relocate that love and his writing gifts as he drowns himself in booze and various sexual encounters," said Evan Handler, the actor who plays Moody's best pal and agent Charlie Runkle.

After hearing the IMDB description of the show, Handler couldn't help but be disappointed about the picture the website's bland synopsis paints. And with great reason. Sure, fans of the show love it for being sexy, edgy and provocative, but it also portrays an engagingly vivid view of the entertainment industry. The show is philosophical, it examines relationships with friends and family in a new light and it delivers an often comical as well as brutally honest look at alternative lifestyles.

"It has a tone that's very unique," Handler said. "It manages to be very highbrow and lowbrow simultaneously. You have these guys who are behaving in an infantile fashion for their ages and yet the banter is quite clever and sprinkled with literary references."

While season five's finale hinted at the possibility of Moody being poisoned to death by a jealous ex-girlfriend, a trailer for the new season reveals the main man very much alive, as well as a plethora of great guest stars. In previous years the show has featured guests like Rob Lowe, RZA of film and Wu Tang Clan fame, Rick Springfield and Zakk Wylde. This year's guests include Australian-British actor-musician Tim Minchin, "Taken" actress Maggie Grace, Steve Jones of the seminal punk group Sex Pistols and the ever-so-brilliant shock-rocker Marilyn Manson.

"In season six, Charlie descends with Hank into the world of rock 'n' roll," Handler said. "He gets coerced to adapt one of his books and screenplays into a Broadway musical with a fictional character named Atticus Fetch (played by Minchin) -- he's a Bowie-esque rock legend. Minchin is well known in Australia and England and less known here. I think that's bound to change."

"(Grace) plays a professional muse -- I didn't know there was such a thing," Handler continued. "A woman who's made it her business to inspire rock legends and she sets her sights on Hank Moody as an underachiever worthy of her charms and gifts."

Jones plays a "burly and surly" bouncer and Manson plays himself in season six. Manson's role also includes a staged performance at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, according to Handler.

Lowe will also reprise his role in season six.

While the premiere of season five of the show saw a jump in time of almost three years, season six begins about a week later.

"Hank has recovered from his poisoning (in the episode airing Sunday)," Handler said. "The woman who did that to him does not recover as much as Hank does. So he's plagued by guilt over this, which sort of fuels his descent over the season."

Handler, who first met Duchovny during a conference room test-read for the show, said that he and the former "The X-Files" star kicked their relationship off by reading scenes for series creator Tom Kapinos that were half scripted and half ad-libbed.

"There's this great love affair between Charlie Runkle and Hank Moody that's outlasted any of their heterosexual relationships," Handler said. "It's a great buddy story, a great up-and-down, round-and-around type of thing."

Initially intended to be a screenplay, Showtime asked that it be reformatted into a series. "Californication" in its early stages was supposed to portray Runkle as a closeted homosexual -- something that was changed before the pilot was filmed.

Ironically in season six, Handler said Runkle pretends to be gay in order to sign an openly gay, major movie star client who wants an agent.

Originally from New York but currently living in Southern California on the coast where "Californication" is shot, Handler attended The Juilliard School in the late 1970s and early 1980s and was a member of the Drama Division's Group 12 with Kevin Spacey, Ving Rhames, Kelly McGillis and Elizabeth McGovern. In addition to being known for his role in the HBO series "Sex and the City," Handler has some big screen credits as well -- he was in 1981's "Taps" starring Tom Cruise and Sean Penn as well as 1996's "Ransom" starring Mel Gibson.

In the late 1980s, Handler was diagnosed with a seemingly incurable case of leukemia when he was 24 years old. He was cured.

To tell his story, he wrote the 1996 book "Time on Fire: My Comedy of Terrors" and another in 2008 called "It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive."

"(The newer volume) tells the story of the 20 years after the illness and the extremely lengthy process of finding and experiencing gratitude (for) the life that I knew I was lucky to be living," Handler said.

Both published, the two works are now available in all formats as E-Books.

Handler has also written articles for ELLE; O, the Oprah Magazine and he contributes regularly to The Huffington Post.

The premiere of season six of the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning show "Californication" airs on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. PST.